Flooding still an acute problem in Jakarta

Flooding still an acute problem in Jakarta

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta people should prepare for more flooding, likely to hit
early next year as the city can only tackle a small part of the
problem.

Head of the City Public Works Agency IGKG Suena said that 78
locations in the city were usually inundated during the rainy
season every year. But at present, the city administration can
only tackle the flooding problem at five of them.

"The remaining 73, mostly in North Jakarta, will still be
liable to flooding during the annual rainy season," Suena told
The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"We are not talking about the flood that inundated almost 70
percent of the city early this year. We are talking about
flooding that occurs annually," said Suena.

The five areas expected to gain relief from flooding are:
Tanah Merah, Pluit, North Jakarta; Kebon Baru, Tebet, South
Jakarta; Utan Kayu, Matraman, East Jakarta; Cempaka Putih,
Central Jakarta and Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.

The 73 areas likely to suffer flooding are spread across all
five of the city's municipalities.

Therefore, Suena added, the public should prepare itself for
the next rainy season as the city administration is unable to
deal with flooding in major parts of the capital.

According to Suena, some Rp 125 billion has been allocated to
flood prevention projects this year. This comprises Rp 55 billion
from the city administration and Rp 70 billion from the central
government.

He said the city's budget alone this year only allocated some
Rp 22 billion to flood prevention projects, mostly for land
acquisition for the Eastern Flood Canal project.

But in view of the very severe flooding in January and
February, the city administration has this year added funds of Rp
33 billion to flood prevention projects, which include the
dredging of rivers, repair of water pumps, improvements to the
drainage system and cleaning up of a number of rivers.

Suena also said that the city would use the Rp 70 billion from
the central government to finance flood prevention projects,
particularly for dredging six main rivers of the total 13 in the
city.

The six rivers include the Western Flood Canal, Cengkareng
channel, Sunter river, Pluit channel, Ciliwung river in the
Gunung Sahari area and the Beton river.

According to Suena, next year his agency would begin the
Ciliwung revitalization project, to be funded by a Japanese
government contribution of Rp 1.3 trillion.

"If the project is completed next year, it is hoped that
people living alongside the Ciliwung river will not be affected
by flooding," added Suwena.

According to him, construction of the 23-kilometer Eastern
Flood Canal project should be postponed as the government has no
money to continue the project.

He acknowledged that thus far, only some 5 percent of the land
necessary for the project had been acquired.